One More Thing:It seems our recent love affair with the helicopter is putting the brakes on the expansion plans of New York-based US Helicopter (USH), co- founded in 2003 by Corkman Donal McSullivan.
USH recently raised $6.6 million (€4.5 million) from investors to help with its expansion plans, but is having difficulty sourcing aircraft, due in part to Irish property developers snapping up helicopters. We own more per capita than any other country.
"We have six [ new] helicopters ordered but we won't get them until the end of 2008," McSullivan said. "In the meantime we're trying to acquire in the used market. But they're very hard to get, due to increased oil exploration and the property developers buying them in Ireland."
McSullivan moved to the US in 1976 to head up Bord Fáilte's tourist drive in North America and has remained Stateside ever since.
He helped found USH in 2003 and the operation took to the air three years later. It is the only helicopter operator in the US licensed to run scheduled flights from airports.
USH operates flights between Newark and JFK airports and heliports in downtown Manhattan in conjunction with Continental and Delta airlines respectively. Flights cost up to €159 each way and are targeted at business travellers.
It hopes to add LaGuardia in New York to its schedule in the near future and also runs charter flights to the Hamptons at weekends for a tasty $800 each way.
Quoted on the Over The Counter Bulletin, USH has a market value of $24 million.
Revenues to the end of June were $883,000, a four-fold increase on the previous year, but it posted an operating loss of $2.8 million. It owes $10 million.
McSullivan says passenger numbers are steadily building and the new aircraft would allow it to expand, probably offering similar downtown services from airports in Chicago and Los Angeles. "We reckon there are nine cities in the US ripe for this," he said.
He even had a proposal pitched to him for a service from Dublin airport to the Docklands.
"We were approached recently by two young lads, but I didn't take it too seriously," he said. "Our focus is on the US - Europe would be down the road."
